Embattled Sars officials to approach high court for docket

Pretoria – Three former South African Revenue Service (Sars) senior officials have opted to approach the high court to compel the State to hand over parts of a docket in the criminal case against them.

Ivan Pillay, Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s court on Thursday on charges of alleged corruption and contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information (Rica) Act.

Advocate Laurence Hodes SC, who is representing the trio, has been fighting to have full access to the docket since their first appearance in March.

In August, the State agreed to hand over all parts of the docket before reneging on the agreement saying they meant they will only hand over some parts of the file.

At the previous court appearance in September, the State agreed to allow the defence team to view part B of the docket and take notes but not to have copies.